Festive music creates connection to the divine

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This article was published 13/12/2023 (683 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Growing up in a Baptist church in North Vancouver, the Christmas Eve service was always special for Laila Biali.

“It was a highlight for me, a magical memory,” Biali, now 43, said of those candlelight services.

Biali, an award-winning Canadian jazz singer/songwriter and host of CBC Radio’s Saturday Night Jazz, is reviving those memories through her new cross-Canada Wintersongs and Holiday Classics tour, which stops at the Crescent Arts Centre today. The concert, sponsored by Jazz Winnipeg, will feature a variety of sacred and secular holiday songs performed by Biali, who (along with Jane Bunnett) won a 2019 Juno Award for vocal jazz album of the year.

Christmastime holds a special place for Biali, who lives in Toronto and attends Little Trinity Anglican Church with her husband and son. She describes her music as a way to express spirituality and connect with the divine.

“I feel the divine especially when I write, but also when I perform,” she said. “When I perform, something happens in that space. It’s difficult to put into words, but it’s a sacred space.”

For her, it means “embracing everyone who comes into that space” for her concerts.

It also means recognizing that everything flows out of her relationship with God. “It’s a place of wonder and mystery,” she said, adding she invites God to be part of all she does as an artist.

Citing the example of U2 frontman Bono, an avowed Christian, Biali believes people can experience the divine through the music, even when the songs aren’t sacred or religious.

“To me, dividing the sacred and secular worlds doesn’t make sense,” she said. “All of my music is a form of worship, because I am a Christian.”

Someone who played a large role in influencing her approach to music was Tim Keller, the former pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, where Biali was a music director for eight years.

“He was an intellectual with a heart of gold, a powerful teacher and servant leader,” she said of Keller, who died earlier this year.

Although he was a classical music fan, he was very supportive of Biali’s work in jazz. “He was a shining example to me of serving others,” she said.

Her faith has also helped her face challenges in life, include the suicide of a family member and the loss of close friend to cancer.

Those experiences led to her album Out of Dust, on which she shared her journey through grief and self-doubt to inspire others to seek joy amid pain. “(It’s) a reminder that even when life brings you to your knees, there is light to be found within the darkness,” she explained.

According to Zachary Rushing, Jazz Winnipeg’s artistic programs manager, Biali’s concert — which will feature original music alongside arrangements of familiar secular and sacred classics — is a way to “experience the magic and joy of the holiday season through the power of music.”

It’s especially important at a time like this, he said, when the news is dominated by reports about conflict in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

“Her music reminds us of the generosity of the human heart,” he said, describing Biali as “a lovely human.”

“We need people like her who remind us the world is also full of kindness.”

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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